diff --git a/basis/uuid/uuid-docs.factor b/basis/uuid/uuid-docs.factor
index 0408da85b8..487d5a1104 100644
--- a/basis/uuid/uuid-docs.factor
+++ b/basis/uuid/uuid-docs.factor
@@ -4,23 +4,27 @@ USING: help.syntax help.markup kernel prettyprint sequences strings ;
 IN: uuid
 
 HELP: uuid1
+{ $values { "string" "a UUID string" } }
 { $description 
     "Generates a UUID (version 1) from the host ID, sequence number, "
     "and current time."
 } ;
 
 HELP: uuid3
+{ $values { "namespace" string } { "name" string } { "string" "a UUID string" } }
 { $description 
     "Generates a UUID (version 3) from the MD5 hash of a namespace "
     "UUID and a name."
 } ;
 
 HELP: uuid4
+{ $values { "string" "a UUID string" } }
 { $description 
     "Generates a UUID (version 4) from random bits." 
 } ;
 
 HELP: uuid5
+{ $values { "namespace" string } { "name" string } { "string" "a UUID string" } }
 { $description 
     "Generates a UUID (version 5) from the SHA-1 hash of a namespace " 
     "UUID and a name."
@@ -28,12 +32,10 @@ HELP: uuid5
 
 
 ARTICLE: "uuid" "UUID (Universally Unique Identifier)"
-"The " { $vocab-link "uuid" } " vocabulary is used to generate UUID's. "
-"The words uuid1, uuid3, uuid4, uuid5 can be used to generate version "
-"1, 3, 4, and 5 UUIDs as specified in RFC 4122.\n"
-"\n" 
-"If all you want is a unique ID, you should probably call uuid1 or uuid4."
-"\n"
+"The " { $vocab-link "uuid" } " vocabulary is used to generate UUIDs. "
+"The below words can be used to generate version 1, 3, 4, and 5 UUIDs as specified in RFC 4122."
+$nl 
+"If all you want is a unique ID, you should probably call " { $link uuid1 } " or " { $link uuid4 } "."
 { $subsection uuid1 }
 { $subsection uuid3 }
 { $subsection uuid4 }
diff --git a/basis/uuid/uuid.factor b/basis/uuid/uuid.factor
index 8b491d7cf2..337ea22df5 100644
--- a/basis/uuid/uuid.factor
+++ b/basis/uuid/uuid.factor
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 USING: byte-arrays checksums checksums.md5 checksums.sha1 
 kernel math math.parser math.ranges random unicode.case 
-sequences strings system ;
+sequences strings system io.binary ;
 
 IN: uuid 
 
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ IN: uuid
     micros 10 * HEX: 01b21dd213814000 +
     [ -48 shift HEX: 0fff bitand ] 
     [ -32 shift HEX: ffff bitand ]
-    [ HEX: ffffffff bitand ] tri ;
+    [ HEX: ffffffff bitand ]
+    tri ;
 
 : (hardware) ( -- address ) 
     ! Choose a random 48-bit number with eighth bit 
@@ -35,9 +36,10 @@ IN: uuid
     bitor ;
 
 : (version) ( n version -- n' )
-    [ HEX: c000 48 shift bitnot bitand 
-      HEX: 8000 48 shift bitor 
-      HEX: f000 64 shift bitnot bitand
+    [
+        HEX: c000 48 shift bitnot bitand 
+        HEX: 8000 48 shift bitor 
+        HEX: f000 64 shift bitnot bitand
     ] dip 76 shift bitor ;
 
 : uuid>string ( n -- string )
@@ -51,13 +53,7 @@ IN: uuid
     [ CHAR: - = not ] filter 16 base> ;
 
 : uuid>byte-array ( n -- byte-array ) 
-    16 <byte-array> 15 -1 [a,b) [ 
-        [ dup HEX: ff bitand ] 2dip swap
-        [ set-nth -8 shift ] keep 
-    ] each nip ;
-
-: byte-array>uuid ( byte-array -- n )
-     0 swap [ [ 8 shift ] dip + ] each ;
+    16 >be ;
 
 PRIVATE>
 
@@ -65,15 +61,15 @@ PRIVATE>
     string>uuid uuid>byte-array ;
 
 : uuid-unparse ( byte-array -- string ) 
-    byte-array>uuid uuid>string ;
+    be> uuid>string ;
 
 : uuid1 ( -- string )
     (hardware) (clock) (timestamp) <uuid> 
     1 (version) uuid>string ;
 
 : uuid3 ( namespace name -- string )
-    [ uuid-parse ] dip >byte-array append 
-    md5 checksum-bytes 16 short head byte-array>uuid 
+    [ uuid-parse ] dip append 
+    md5 checksum-bytes 16 short head be> 
     3 (version) uuid>string ;
 
 : uuid4 ( -- string )
@@ -81,14 +77,13 @@ PRIVATE>
     4 (version) uuid>string ;
 
 : uuid5 ( namespace name -- string )
-   [ uuid-parse ] dip >byte-array append 
-    sha1 checksum-bytes 16 short head byte-array>uuid 
+    [ uuid-parse ] dip append 
+    sha1 checksum-bytes 16 short head be> 
     5 (version) uuid>string ;
 
-
-: NAMESPACE_DNS  "6ba7b810-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8" ; inline
-: NAMESPACE_URL  "6ba7b811-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8" ; inline
-: NAMESPACE_OID  "6ba7b812-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8" ; inline
-: NAMESPACE_X500 "6ba7b814-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8" ; inline
+CONSTANT: NAMESPACE_DNS  "6ba7b810-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8"
+CONSTANT: NAMESPACE_URL  "6ba7b811-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8"
+CONSTANT: NAMESPACE_OID  "6ba7b812-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8"
+CONSTANT: NAMESPACE_X500 "6ba7b814-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8"